Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to run live events. We delivered our programme online, free of charge, and on TV.
Love
Wings
Dir: Jamie Weston – 18:00, UK
A heartwarming LGBTQ+ love story that spans over six decades, between two Land Army girls during World War II. A partly silent film, accompanied by a beautiful score, starring BAFTA award-winning actresses Miriam Margolyes, and fifties film legend, Virginia Mckenna.
And We Collide
Dir: Dongni Lanca Li – 19:00, China
An unexpected tropical encounter sparks a fragile romance between a wanna-be astronaut and a village farm boy.
Tender
Dir: Felicia Pride – 14:53, US
After an unexpected one night stand, two women at very different stages of their lives, share an even more intimate morning after.
Pool Boy
Dir: Luke Willis – 11:00, US
Austin, a college jock home for the summer, unexpectedly develops feelings for Star, his parents’ non-binary pool cleaner, and struggles to hide his growing feelings from his clique of straight friends.
The Elephant Joke
Dir: Rim Kang – 14:04, Republic of Korea
Yeo-bin and Hae-Kwang, a broken-up couple, head to a place to meet with a new family for their cat. But where they arrived is a remote reservoir. There, they couldn’t find the adopter, but instead, a locked fridge.
By the River
Dir: Agata Korycka – 35:00, Poland
This love story, set against the backdrop of extreme right-wing protests, reminds us that queer love and politics are never too far apart. When Kinga falls for another woman, she sets off on a journey not only to soul-searching and self-reflection, but also to social-political awareness.
Abby and Emily Go To Palm Springs
Dir: Hellin Kay – 14:00, US
Two women in love try not to kill each other on their first vacation together.
Shukran Habibi
Dir: Ville Tanttu – 35:00, Finland
Refugee Mohamed finds a special connection with Kristian, a Finnish family man.
April´s Last Memories
Dir: Nancy Cruz Orozco – 20:00, Mexico
Best friends Camilla and Abril are attracted to each other; but when their paths are about to separate them, they don’t know how to say goodbye.
Drawings of my BF
Dir: James Cooper – 6:32, UK
The artist Wilfrid Wood and his muse Theo Adamson have, over the course of their relationship, produced hundreds of drawings together. This documentary explores the realities and romanticism of that dynamic, and how artist and muse became BFs.
AVAILABLE IN OUR TV FESTIVAL ONLY
The Corner
Dir: Ida Hansen Eldøen – 5:00, Norway
Tired of waiting, Veronika tries to give her girlfriend direction over the phone, but Susan gets more and more confused with every word. The Corner is a 5-minute-long, one-shot-film, and it’s a story about communication and the sense (or non-sense) of direction.
The Odyssey
Dir: Emmanuelle Mattana – 6:44, Australia
Zoom class finally gets interesting for 13 year old Kiki when she discovers that her computer screen doubles as a portal into her crush’s bedroom. A reflection on young queer love, the fantasies we create, and finding connections in isolation.
In Nature
Dir: Marcel Barelli – 5:00, Switzerland
In nature, a couple is a male and a female. Well, not always! A couple is also a female and a female. Or a male and a male. You may not be aware of it, but homosexuality isn’t just a human story.
Have We Met Before?
Dir: Oliver Mason – 12:03, UK
From hanky codes to the (r)evolution of the internet, this short docudrama utilises slices of LGBT social history to explore our basic human need for sex and intimacy.
LOVE SPELL
Dir: Lauren Vevers – 10:20, UK
Love Spell is about female friendship and queer desire. In 1999 in a high school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a teenage girl casts a spell to make her best friend fall in love with her.
Threesome
Dir: Nyko Piscopo – 3:00, Italy
Staying together at home enjoying love is a blessing for a couple. But for those used to meeting people, being active and free, It’s definitely way too much togetherness.
The Space Between Us
Dir: Dara Darcy – 2:22, Ireland
In a time where circumstances have forced us into isolation, The Space Between Us navigates loneliness, melancholy, and the uncanniness of human connections maintained by modern technology.
Stargazing
Dir: Cory Souto– 8:57, US
Two boys find themselves falling further for each other but are trying to find themselves at the same time. When one of them moves out of town, the other is left more lost than ever.
Lost in Time
Dir: Megan Ellis – 12:35, Australia
When Julia’s travelling party becomes stranded on the side of a dusty bush land road, things start to go missing. As Julia realises the thief is a girl, she becomes determined to put a stop to it.
Pride of Lions
Dir: Symeona Maria Kanellou – 3:54, Denmark
An homage to a joyful, gay friend who passed away a bit abruptly. To give him a few more minutes and a proper goodbye hug.
Cruising: Other Ways of Love
Dir: Abdullah Qureshi – 8:44, Finland
Fictional & experimental narrative, thinking about cruising from mythological & queer perspectives. With interviews conducted by in Marseille, France with queer Muslim friends.
RIOT5
Dir: Violeta Fellay – 4:07, Denmark
The Starboard City RIOT5 roller derby team face off against their heated rivals in a decisive match, but something goes terribly wrong…
Damn Right + Apologize
Dir: Amber – 7:42, US
This LGBTQ+ music video tells the story about two guys that meet during a speed dating event. While we see the connection is there, and very sexy, the trust is broken on multiple levels.
Getting Closer
Dir: Ethan Roberts – 6:16, US – CW: DRUG USE, SEXUAL CONTENT
Two stoned boyfriends navigate unexpected vulnerability (as well as the giggles) while attempting to get off. A micro-budget chamber piece that utilizes the immediacy of iPhone cinematography to explore modern intimacy and what it takes to get there.
New Flesh for the Old Ceremony
Dir: Elizabeth Rakhilkina – 12:46, US
CW: SEXUAL CONTENT
A lesbian reverie set amidst the backwoods of New England, New Flesh for the Old Ceremony explores the physicality of grief through a macabre fable about a woman whose wife is devoured by and then possesses their beloved pack of dogs.
Self
IS IT ME
Dir: Christopher McGill – 9:45, UK
An intimate portrait of a bio drag queen. Body dysmorphia takes centre stage in this highly visual examination of the selves we invent to navigate the world.
Les Gorges (Canyons)
Dir: Elsa Thomas – 18:54, France
One summer day, Elena takes her friend Sacha away from the convent to swim. Lost in the middle of canyons, their sensuality awakens, but the sky begins to rumble.
Never Tell Anyone About This
Dir: Kate Sedlyarova – 38:20, Russian Federation
Lera and Kostya have long been told never to reveal anything about themselves, so they appear ‘normal’ and escape rejection by the wider society. They are intersex, but information available on LGBT+ people in Russia is limited. They decide to tell the world about themselves, that intersex people exist, and that there are millions just like them.
MOTTA
Dir: Nish Gera – 15:30, UK
Bound in flowers, a tattooed hand strokes a face. Ropes unwind on the floor. Tremors of pain, tremors of release. What do you desire? MOTTA follows hard-to-classify Brazilian artist Fabio Da Motta as he questions the boundaries between fantasy, power, provocation and art.
Eve
Dir: Joe Solomon – 13:04, UK
Your wedding is meant to be the best day of your life for a young bride, but what if you come out as gay as soon as you’ve tied the knot to your boyfriend?
BEAT 97
Dir: Washington Calegari – 11:51, Brazil
Alvaro has been quarantined for 97 days without leaving home. When the delivery man arrives at the building with another meal, an unexpected situation imposes a difficult decision on Alvaro.
PARTNER – Big Gay Hands
Dir: Lesley Marshall – 3:22, Canada
“This song is about a wild night on the town filled with queer desire. There are a lot of songs out there about women’s bodies but this is the only song we know about big gay hands. This song is dedicated to the hotties and to those who love them.” – PARTNER
The Act
Dir: Thomas Hescott – 17:58, US
Effeminate, depraved and looking for love. 1965, the eve of decriminalisation for acts of male homosexuality. Matthews, a young gay man at odds with the world discovers love, sex and a family in the backstreets and underground bars of Soho.
Modern Queer Heroes
Dir: Kate Jessop – 5:00, UK
Who are the queer heroes walking amongst us now or in recent times? A celebration of LGBTQ+ figures who have helped push forward culture and society a little more for the rest of us. A collaboration during the 2020 quarantine between 14 LGBTQ+ identified animators around the world, the structure is based on the old Surrealist drawing game Exquisite Corpses.
Pure
Dir: Natalie Jasmine Harris – 12:20, US
On the eve of her cotillion ball, a young Black girl grapples with her queer identity and questions her purity.
Trans Happiness is Real
Dir: Quinton Baker – 8:05, UK
A trans activist chronicles their street art activism, which combats an anti-trans stickering campaign on the streets of Oxford with unwavering but not untested hope.
Venus
Dir: Faye Carr-Wilson – 5:40, UK
Short documentary dealing with issues of disability and empowerment through drag performer, Venus Dimilo.
Build Black Futures
Dir: OnRaé LaTeal Watkins – 1:20, US
Music video from the artist activist group, Freedom Futures Collective (FFC). The collective released its debut project, “We Keep Us Safe”, a musical and visual exploration of the reimagining of public safety featuring original freedom songs from the movement for Black lives.
From A to Q
Dir: Emmalie El Fadli – 18:52, UK
22 year old Alex who wakes suddenly from a dream where she’s intimate with Kayla. Only problem is; Kayla happens to be Alex’s best friend and Alex has never been with a girl before… She now has to navigate through her new found feelings, all the while trying really hard not to mess up the friendship she’s had since she was 5.
Récit de Soit (Oneself Story)
Dir: Géraldine Charpentier – 4:53, Belgium
While non-binary representations are rare, Lou talks about their relationship to gender, clothes, and other markers.
Factory Talk
Dir: Lucie Rachel, Chrissie Hyde – 4:31, UK
Factory Talk is an intergenerational conversation about identity, sexuality and masculinity in a rural factory. Through the clanging of metal they make small talk, but as the gripes and
grumbles testify to better times, the questions rising on the factory floor are of more than just nostalgia.
Teddy
Dir: Milda Baginskaite – 12:30, UK
A young immigrant searches for her own identity while fighting for recognition in a male-dominated classroom.
Flamenco Queer
Dir: Ana González, Frederick Bernas – 22:46, Spain
After decades of hiding feminine impulses, a renowned dancer comes out to challenge convention by pursuing his love of flamenco – dressed as a woman – in a conservative society with rigid cultural traditions.
Photographing Bisexuality
Dir: Meryem Ait Aghnia – 5:07, Morocco
In a country where homosexuality and sexual relations outside marriage are punishable by prison and where religious thought dominates, Ines claims her difference.
Lonesome – a Malaysian LGBTQ+ Voicemail Documentary
Dir: Justice Khor – 17:00, Malaysia
The COVID-19 Lockdown as a metaphor for queer existential invisibility. Lonesome is a documentary that explores the intersection of queerness and isolation.
Would you Realise that I’m a Survivor?
Dir: Carlos Ledesma – 2:46, Argentina
A Queer South American artist’s transformation, in the time provided by one roll of Super 8 film.
Masisi Wouj
Dirs: Zé Kielwagen, M. Serafim, S. Simeon – 22:00, Haiti
In Haiti, men perceived as feminine are known as masisi. Haitian artist and activist Sanba Yonel speaks of the plight of the masisi who, faced with prejudice and hostility, find shelter in the religious context of Vodou.
Roadkill
Dir: Aliza Brugger – 15:00, US
Tillie’s lonely life as a roadkill removal worker is destabilized when Wanda, a lively stranger, comes to town.
Sebastienne
Dir: José Alberto Andrés Lacasta – 13:29, Spain
The arrival of a mysterious engraving about Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian at the Historic Palace of the AljaferÃa (Zaragoza) awakens the spirit of its old inquisitors, reviving the invincible designs of guilt and desire.
No Historical Precedent
Dir: Mae Hoffman – 9:31, Us
Portrait of a woman who refused to be a transgender icon. Experimental documentary of an undocumented history. Cosplay and cover songs by the #1 fan of Wendy Carlos.
Lessons
Dir: Sam Seccombe – 15:14, UK
The morning after a one night stand, Dan and Tommy engage in an interesting and unexpected conversation about relationships, sexuality and themselves.
#TMI (webseries)
Dir: Ashlei Shyne – 23:23, US
Comedy series that follows Aaliyah Jones, a bisexual woman who recently became single after her ex-girlfriend Simone moved to Berlin. (First 2 episodes only)
Spinach and Eggs
Dir: Lee Campbell – 5:38, UK
A shadow of my disembodied fist performing moving up and down repeatedly; the fist is the spoken language of violence, of my anger/frustration. Many men go to great lengths to achieve one and to achieve a certain overall body type. I am never going to fit into (gay) society’s ideals in terms of body image.
Have You Ever Thought Why?
Dir: Krissy Mahan – 1:59, US
A meditation on aging as a gender-nonconforming person.
Family
My Brother is a Mermaid
Dir: Alfie Dale – 19:30, UK
Social realist fairytale about a trans-feminine teenager, as seen through the eyes of their 7 year old brother. Set in a desolate and prejudiced coastal town, the film examines how a child’s unconditional love can be a powerful and disruptive force for good.
Vincent before Noon
Dir: Guillaume Mainguet – 17:00, France
A father pays his son a visit after years of conflict and turns up in the middle of his house move. The son Vincent reacts violently to that intrusion. Emotionally weakened, the father involuntarily reveals the true reason of his visit, which revives the tension between them.
Kapaemahu
H. Wong-Kalu, D. Hamer, J. Wilson – 8:28, US
Long ago, four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii. Narrated in an ancient Hawaiian dialect, Kapaemahu brings this powerful legend back to life in vivid animation, seen through the eyes of a curious child.
AVAILABLE IN OUR TV FESTIVAL ONLY
Complicated
Isak Kohaly – 22:05, Israel
Itamar, a chubby and depressed young man, returns to his childhood home in the suburbs following a mental breakdown. As he struggles to get better under the care of his quirky and overprotective mother, old tensions about his sexual orientation arise.
Chado
Dir: Dominica Harrison – 7:24, UK
During a long hot summer in the forest, Child is forced to grow up. First her Dog becomes ill, then out of the blue her Mother returns with a new lover in tow. Child’s world is turned upside down. A coming of age story, set in an enchanted Russian wilderness.
Cost You Nothing
Dir: Patricia Kelly – 10:15, Ireland
A mother’s fractious relationship with her son disintegrates when she cannot accept the man he has become.
Thicker Than Blood
Dir: Liang-Chun Lin – 9:51, US
Indian boy Karan recently gets a white stepsister, Lily, when their lesbian moms move together. Karan does not get along with Lily nor with this whole new family idea. As he desperately needs to blend in with peers at an upcoming party, Lily gets her first period.
Felt Right Then, Feels Right Now
Dir: Ashton Blyth – 2:00, UK
The childhood memory of Blyth trying on his father’s boxers at age eight, before leaving for Brownies still wearing them under his uniform. This memory is one of many that have contributed to Blyth understanding that his gender identity did not align with the sex he was assigned at birth, leading to the artist coming out as transgender at eighteen.
Weighing
Dir: Martina Amoretti – 10:23, UK
Being a conversion therapist, Éidin has always thought she is doing the right thing. But when she meets Iulía, she begins to question whether being gay is that bad after all.
The Summer House
Dir: Luke Willis – 13:30, US
After many years away, Greg returns to his family’s secluded vacation house with his boyfriend only to be tormented by the ghost of his homophobic father.
Before the Eruption
Dir: Robero Pérez Toledo – 9:26, Spain
Although a volcanic eruption can occur without any prior signal, volcanoes will most likely issue different types of warnings before the eruption begins. We barely saw it coming.
As Simple As That
Dir: Luciana Bitencourt – 19:08, Brazil
Suspicious that her son is gay, Joana shares her doubts with her husband. To her surprise, the boy’s father knows much more about the subject than she imagined. After all, why was she the last to know?
Oxtail Soup
Dir: Peter No – 5:00, US
A Korean boy struggles to reconcile broken relationships in his life.
The Middle of a Lake
Dir: Guillaume Mainguet – 22:08, France
After the cremation of his father, whose ashes are to be dispersed the following day over a nearby lake, Vincent and his family get close friends and relatives together out back behind the family butcher shop for a last tribute.
Features
Queer Tongues
Dir: Ernesto Sarezale – 56:00, UK
Queer Tongues documents today’s vibrant queer spoken word scene. It showcases the work and passions of queer spoken word artists (poets and performers) through snippets of live acts and the answers of over 38 performers, who were interviewed for the camera about sexuality, poetry, performance and social issues.
This is Jessica
Dir: Andrea Meyerson – 01:21:02, US
In the quest to find happiness, Jessica Bair is faced with an impossible choice between the life into which she was born and the one she was born to live.
Outitude: the Irish Lesbian Community
Dir: Sonya Mulligan – 01:28:32, Ireland
A heartfelt documentary that attempts to get to the core of what it means to be lesbian. We spoke to rural and urban lesbians, poets, writers, activists, self professed bar dykes, queer women and curious women.
The Teacher
Dirs: Julian Dabien, Cristina Tamagnini – 01:10:00, Argentina
Natalio is a passionate village teacher. When his friend Juani comes to live in the town, rumours of Natalio’s homosexuality are confirmed, much to the parents’ disapproval.
Canela
Dir: Cecilia del Valle – 01:17:00, Argentina
We follow the parenthesis in the life of Canela, as she is torn between having gender reassignment operating surgery or not. A search begins. She consults with healthcare professionals, her sons and old friends until she realizes something she didn’t really expect.
